Too soon to ease Tri-Cities restrictions, say health officials. Cases still increasing

Data shows it’s too soon to relax government restrictions to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in the Tri-Cities region, say health district officials.

“The curve is still on the way up and certainly hasn’t flattened,” said Rick Dawson, senior manager at the Benton Franklin Health District.

Health officials have seen an increase in hospitalizations, in emergency room visits and in emergency medical calls over the last week or so, he told reporters.

If restrictions are relaxed in Benton and Franklin counties, there could be a significant increase in cases “that could overburden and tax and possibly collapse our medical system in our communities,” he said.

Dawson’s comments came after more than 100 people rallied along George Washington Way in Richland last weekend, calling for an end or at least a loosening of stay at home restrictions.

Their concerns were based on issues ranging from civil liberties to economic impacts to individuals and businesses.

That was followed by a resolution by Franklin County commissioners to end recognition of Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay-home order and allow non-essential businesses to reopen — a decision it soon reversed on a split vote.

“In certain areas of the state the case rate is decreasing and people are seeing a flattening of the curve,” said Heather Hill, the communicable disease programs supervisor for the local health district, on a podcast this week for Kadlec Regional Medical Center.

“But unfortunately in our community, we’re actually not seeing that yet,” she said.

The local health district continues to get reports of 20 to 30 new positive cases on many days, she said.

There have been some good days, like April 22 when just 13 new cases were reported. But that bounced back to 41 new cases on Friday.

Coronavirus case predictions

The pandemic hit Eastern Washington later than Western Washington. The first known case in the Seattle area was reported on Jan. 21, with the first known case reported in the Tri-Cities area almost two months later on March 17.

Statewide, if not in the Tri-Cities area, COVID-19 may have peaked at the end of March, according to the state’s Joint Information Center for coronavirus response.

But the state Department of Health has convened an expert group of computer modelers to analyze economic data, and they predict that relaxation of social distancing to the levels seen before the pandemic hit the state would result in a sharp increase in the number of cases after two weeks, according to the Joint Information Center.

Transmission in King County, which has had 6,637 known cases and 393 deaths, has declined from about three new cases stemming from each person infected in early March to one person as of early this month.

The Institute for Disease Modeling in Bellevue, Wash., predicts that if distancing measures are lifted starting May 1 that a rapid rise in the rate of cases would likely exceed recent peak levels by the end of the month, according to King County officials.

“I just can’t repeat enough that if we push that green button too soon, a lot more people are going to die,” Inslee said on Friday.

COVID-19 will remain through the summer and into the fall and winter months, Hill agreed.

“It’s really how we conduct our lives ... that will determine the future of COVID in our community,” she said.

New COVID-19 cases

On Saturday there were 17 new cases reported in the two counties, including both cases confirmed by testing and also cases considered probable in individuals who had symptoms and close contact with a person with a confirmed case.

The new total was 821, an increase of 2%. The increase from Friday to Saturday was 5%.

The new cases Saturday included 487 in Benton County and 334 in Franklin County.

The past week saw five deaths in the Tri-Cities area from complications of COVID-19, reported by the local health district, including a Tyson Fresh Meats employee. All had underlying health conditions that made them more vulnerable to the effects of the virus.

The Benton Franklin Health District often does not update death totals on the weekends, and the number of deaths it reported Saturday remained at 38 for Benton County residents and four for Franklin County residents.

There have been 118 COVID-19 cases linked to an outbreak at the beef slaughter and processing plant in Wallula near the Tri-Cities, up from 81 a week ago.

Eight of the cases were new as of Saturday’s report from the Benton Franklin Health District.

The plant has temporarily closed Friday for testing of all 1,400 workers for COVID-19. Employees were sent home until at least early this week when test results may be available, clearing some to return to work.

Hospitalized patients

The number of cases in residents and staff at retirement centers and long term care homes increased by 51 to 224 in the last week. About 75% of deaths in the Tri-Cities area continue to be residents of those homes.

Deaths linked to senior homes increased from 27 to 31 over the last week. A total of 13 of the homes have had cases reported since the start of the pandemic, up from 10 as of a week ago.

The latest home to be added to the health department’s list was Callaway Gardens in Kennewick, which has one case and no other suspected cases.

The Washington state Department of Health has provided supplies for the Benton Franklin Health District to use to test all residents and staff in long-term care facilities where anyone has COVID-19, said Dr. Amy Person, the health officer for the district.

The tests may detect people who are infected with the new coronavirus but have no symptoms, providing valuable information to help protect vulnerable residents.

The number of people hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 was at 28 last weekend, increasing to 48 on Friday.

But the number dropped sharply to 32 on Saturday, or 12 percent of all hospitalized patients in the two counties.

Healthcare workers who have been infected with the new coronavirus increased by 21 people over the last week to 130.